PASS (Peer Assisted Study Sessions) pass rates and previous biological knowledge

1. PASS (Peer Assisted Study Sessions) pass rates and previous biological knowledge • Phil Bishop, Lisa Russell (Department of Zoology) and Jacques van der Meer (Student Learning Centre, HEDC) - University of Otago FYBEC1 – Otago Orokonui Ecosanctuary

2. Some of the issues associated with first year biology teaching at Otago • Large class size • Diversity of student population • Insufficient knowledge of students’ backgrounds • Strong ‘Health Science’ focus • Tighter financial constraints FYBEC1 – Otago Orokonui Ecosanctuary

3. First year biology class size and biology staffing at Otago University over last 14 years 1840 students CLASS SIZE No. of DEMONSTRATORS 1035 (1 lab per week) 5/lab/96 students (1 lab per fortnight) 13 lecturers, 3 teaching fellows No. of ACADEMIC STAFF 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 FYBEC1 – Otago Orokonui Ecosanctuary (Total number of students = 20,453)

4. Student diversity • Two main entrance options at Otago • i) University Entrance (NCEA L3) • ii) Special admissions (>20 years old) • There are no subject requirements for entry into the Health Sciences First Year programme • High number of International students Amazing diversity of students Vast range of students’ prior knowledge in class FYBEC1 – Otago Orokonui Ecosanctuary

5. Goals • Better understanding of the skills students bring to the class • Better understanding of their background biological knowledge (at the start) • How would Peer Assisted Study Sessions help a group of students with poor to average prior knowledge of biology? FYBEC1 – Otago Orokonui Ecosanctuary

6. Peer Assisted Study SessionsPASS @ Otago FYBEC1 – Otago Orokonui Ecosanctuary

7. Peer Assisted Study SessionsPASS @ Otago • What is PASS? • Based on Supplemental Instruction programmes from overseas (high stakes vs remedial) • Study sessions – NOT tutorials • Trained leaders facilitate interactive understanding and problem solving • Research shows that studentswho participate in PASS clearly do better Learners should be in the driving seat! FYBEC1 – Otago Orokonui Ecosanctuary

8. Peer Assisted Study SessionsPASS @ Otago • PASS programme survey – Students’ comments…… • “One hour in PASS is worth 3 or 4 hrs struggling on my own” • “More personal, easier to talk amongst peers without feeling stupid” • “Makes us think instead of asking teacher/leader” • “Students working togetherto complete problems you probably wouldn't do by yourself” FYBEC1 – Otago Orokonui Ecosanctuary

9. Peer Assisted Study SessionsPASS @ Otago • One Peer Facilitator to 20 students, 12 sessions per semester • With over 1800 students you need about 90 Peer Facilitators to present 1080 sessions, @$25 per session = $27,000! How could you select a group of students for PASS? Give them a test - Prior Knowledge Survey! FYBEC1 – Otago Orokonui Ecosanctuary

10. Prior Knowledge Survey Conducted on first day of the first semester in their first lecture! • 8 general questions (school subjects, preferred career path, residence, preparation for the course etc) • 11 cell biology multiple choice question (range of difficulties) FYBEC1 – Otago Orokonui Ecosanctuary

11. Prior Knowledge Survey Enabled us to select a group of 400 ‘poor -average’ students (based on their prior knowledge), who were invited to participate in PASS • Three groups in total: • Group 1 – average students invited and participated in PASS (89) • Group 2 – average students invited, but turned down PASS (311) • Group 3 – all other students, not invited & didn’t participate • Group X - above average students, self-invited and participated in PASS (49) FYBEC1 – Otago Orokonui Ecosanctuary

12. Selecting students N = 400 FYBEC1 – Otago Orokonui Ecosanctuary

13. How did they do? FYBEC1 – Otago Orokonui Ecosanctuary

14. How did they do? B B- B- C Max mark = 20 B B B- C FYBEC1 – Otago Orokonui Ecosanctuary

15. Conclusions • Our Prior knowledge survey was a good predictor of how well the students were going to do. FYBEC1 – Otago Orokonui Ecosanctuary

16. Conclusions • Our Prior knowledge survey was a good predictor of how well the students were going to do. • Although PASS usually involves ‘self-selected’ students (and therefore the most motivated), in this study we selected ‘poor/average’ students and helped them improve their predicted marks by two grades. FYBEC1 – Otago Orokonui Ecosanctuary